Someone asked me the other day if I was doing any thing fun with my team of horses.
I had a very interesting and fun weekend. Friday I hooked my team to the wagon and drove approximately 2 ½ miles to town. I met my friend Kirby Jonas to do a promo for his Booksigning the next day at M&H Book store here in Blackfoot.
Channel 8 News was there to do an "Around Town " about events in the area. It turned out to be just a 2-minute spot on TV, but that was all right. The Anchor Woman, Carol Honas also put in a plug for the Live Nativity to be held in the Jensen's Grove Park on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
The team did quite well in the busy traffic. I was a little bit worried about Trapper, the white Percheron, because I had never driven him before. I borrowed him from my sheep rancher friend, to fill in for my Shire mare Morticia while she is at home getting LARGE and ready to deliver a Christmas foal. Trapper came out of retirement Friday after nearly 5 years of not being used as a wagon horse. After the first 100 yards of close control I felt confidant we could go to the big city.
My Shire stallion "Deer Flat Art Bruck" (Gomez) was almost unflappable as usual. He has proven once again that Shires are the "Gentile Giants" .
Saturday I trailered the team back to town and did another promotional for Kirby Jonas. He and Clint Walker have co-authored "YAQUI GOLD " and Kirby was doing a book signing today. We drove through the Wal-Mart parking lot as well as the other two shopping plazas in town. Lots of the holiday shoppers gave us big grins and Happy Holiday greetings.
I drove my "Salt & Pepper" team through the Saturday noontime traffic with very little worry about how they would behave. Of course anything can happen especially with automobile drivers who have never been around horse drawn wagons. I will say that 99 % of them were courteous and allowed us to cross intersections at our slower than the rest of the traffic pace.
Trailered the team home for a few hours break until evening then re harnessed and hauled them back to town. The local Ministerial Association puts on a five station Live Nativity . The stations each depict a portion of the story about the birth of Jesus.
There were thirteen teams and wagons to provide rides around a loop road in the local city park. Teams ranged from a pair of ponies weighing about 850 pounds each, hooked to a 6 passenger buggy to two teams of pinto horses about 1000 pounds each and a couple of wagons pulled by some grade mixed breed horses and a nice pair of hairy legged Shires, a team of black Percherons, and somebody said one team is Tennessee Walkers. And of course my Salt and pepper team. Most of the wagons were just feed wagons with straw bales for seats but a couple of them were like mine with built in/on seats. Each wagon would stop at the station while a recording was played about what the scene was depicting.
Things went well until Trapper had to stand on the downwind side of the Llamas tied near the stable where Jesus was born. He fidgeted at that station each time we went past with a load of folks. And I guess He didn't like the smell of the wood smoke from the campfire where the shepherds were tending their flocks by night. But we survived and he calmed down after 2 ½ hours and several miles of walking the beat.
Let me add here ..... There were no runaways, no wrecks, no accidents and no one was injured during the two evenings............
My wagon handles 10 to 15 persons on the four back-to-back bus seats and one across the back and the wide drivers seat on the raised portion over the front axel. The Kirby Jonas Family just filled the wagon. Saturday night had a light turnout of riders and I only made 5 loops, but Sunday was different. I made a loop about every 15 minutes for 2 ½ hours. All 13 wagons were busy. I hauled Visitors from California, South Dakota and Utah as well as many friends and local area residents.
It might not compare with the Christmas parades in the Midwest but it was fun and another reason for the season.
Dell M. Mangum
TARGET POLYPAYS
" pure bred sheep since 1978 and Shire horses since last Saturday"
Blackfoot, Idaho